Bad Timing
by wrongnotes
Summary: Ed regretted hiding things from Winry. In the end, she always found out. Whether it be a scar from his past or his own feelings, he was determined to be honest from now on. Edwin. Post-Canon


Ed looked fondly over at Winry, letting his gaze trail over her features, from her eyes to her nose to her lips. How could she manage to look so perfect all the time?

"Ed? Ed are you listening to me?" Winry pulled him from his thoughts, and he realized he hadn't heard a word she had been saying.

"Huh?"

Winry groaned. "Seriously Ed, do you ever pay attention?!" She stopped in the middle of the road on the way home, and he knew he was in for a lecture.

Ed cringed at her tone of voice. She had been talking about something important, hadn't she? "Sorry Win. Just thinking."

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously and looked him over. "Thinking about what?"

Ed could tell he was blushing, and looked away quickly before she could notice. "Nothing. What were you talking about?"

Winry huffed, then continued on her spiel. "As I was _saying_ , there's an automail convention in Rush Valley this weekend, and I was hoping you would go with me."

"Really? You want _me_ to go with _you_ to a crazy automail fest?"

"Oh knock it off Ed, you know it'd be fun. We'd get to see Paninya and Garfiel again, and I can see all the latest models of automail! I might even enter one of mine for display, I think this could be a chance to skyrocket Rockbell Automail!" Her face was beaming with excitement as she nearly jumped up and down.

Though he often complained, Ed loved seeing the way Winry got so passionate when talking about automail. He wanted nothing more than to see her accomplish her dreams. "All right then, I think it'll be a good chance for you to get more business."

Winry gawked. "Really?"

"Sure," Ed shrugged.

"Thank you Ed!" She smiled, and Ed knew he had said the right thing. Winry was much better at expressing her thoughts than he was, but after weeks alone in Resembool with her, he felt he was improving with every conversation.

She stopped again, a contemplative look on her face. "Won't it affect your research though? I don't want you to miss anything…"

"Nah, I have plenty of time to work on it. This is your special thing, and didn't you say you wanted me there?" Ed smirked. "Are you really trying to get rid of me again that quickly?"

"I swear, Ed, with the way you're going-" Her sentence was interrupted by a drop of rain landing on her cheek, soon followed by many. "Agh! Come on, I don't want these groceries to get wet."

Ed took a bag and covered it with his jacket, running alongside her back to the house. What kind of timing was that? It had been sunny just a few minutes earlier!

The rain quickly turned from droplets to a full downpour, and they were completely soaked before they even reached the porch.

"Damn." Ed shook the water from his jacket as he arrived on the front step, checking the groceries to make sure they weren't too soaked. They could only go to the market every week or so, and it would be a pain to walk all the way back so soon.

"I think they're fine, let's just get inside so we can get changed." Winry shut the door behind them, setting the groceries in the kitchen. On further observation, Ed realized they were the only two in the house, and he sighed in relief. The last thing he wanted was the old hag screeching about how he had ruined the groceries.

Ed had started organizing the vegetables into the right cabinets when he heard Winry curse from her bedroom.

"What's up?" He asked as she stormed back into the kitchen.

"My clothes were all drying outside and now I have nothing to wear other than my work clothes," she huffed, clearly not willing to wear such little clothing in cold weather.

"You can wear something of mine if you want," Ed suggested, leaving the groceries to be tended to later.

"Are you sure they'll fit?"

"What's that supposed to mean?! I'm taller than you!"

"That's what I _meant_ , Edward."

Ed blinked. Right, no more short jokes. As much as he loved the few extra inches he gained over the past year, he wasn't used to being the _taller one_ in the house.

"Right… they should be fine." He wasted no time in leading her up into his room, thinking over what he had in his drawers that _wasn't_ dirty. He could admit, he was terrible with washing clothes. When he was still a state alchemist, he went days in the same getup, not bothering to find anything else to wear. Now that he was older, he realized how much he must've smelled without Al able to tell him. He mentally cursed his younger self for not taking more showers.

He rummaged through his piles of clothes until he found a fresh shirt, sniffing it to be sure. He grabbed an unused pair of sweatpants and tossed them both behind him, still looking for something to dress himself in. Grabbing a _slightly_ used top, he took off his own in preparation to change.

"Ed."

"What, do they not work or something?"

"Ed, w-what…" What was she so freaked out about? His clothes didn't smell _that_ bad, did they? He turned around and noticed her eyes were watering as she stared at him in shock.

"What… what is _that?"_ Shit. She was looking right at his scar, the one he got in Briggs. He had been meaning to tell her, but he just couldn't think of a way around it.

"Winry…" as he turned around fully, she gasped again noticing he had a matching one on his stomach. Damn, this was _not_ how he had expected things to go.

"W-When did this happen?! Why didn't you tell me?!" a tear spilled over, and Ed knew he had really messed things up this time.

"I can explain Win, I know it doesn't look good but-"

"Doesn't _look_ good?! I'm a doctor Ed, I know what a fatal wound looks like! That… that should've killed you!"

He sighed, running his hand through his hair. "I know, I _know_ okay? Just hear me out, it was either die or.. or-"

"Or what?" She looked even more concerned now, and Ed wanted to shrink into himself. Why did he think hiding this would be a good idea? He knew he would get nothing out of hiding even more, especially with her so worried. From recent experience, he had learned that being honest with her was the only way to accomplish anything, even if it did make her upset. It was worth it in the long run, and she deserved to know this.

"It's… complicated. I sort of… used myself as a Philosopher's Stone, with my soul energy and all."

"But don't you still need equivalent exchange? You said you always have to give something in return… What did you give, Ed?" She took a step closer, worry increasing by the second. This was bad, very bad.

"It took years."

"What?" she stopped in her motion, attention completely drawn to him.

"Years off my life, I don't know how many, but it couldn't have been _too_ much. I only healed a wound."

She looked down, biting her lip as tears welled in her eyes. "You… you idiot…"

Ed needed to do something, and fast. He couldn't stand watching her cry like that just as much as he hadn't back then.

"I did it for you, okay? I didn't want to see you cry again, so… so I did what I had to! So what if it's just a few years, I healed it and I'm _fine_ now. I'm here with you, and I'm alive, so in my eyes it's worth it!"

Winry sucked in a breath and looked at him, red-rimmed eyes shimmering. "I just wish you weren't so _reckless_ all the time, Ed." She pulled him into a hug and he stiffened from surprise, standing there as she squeezed his midsection."I'm glad you're okay now."

"Me too," he stumbled out, wrapping his arms around her. They stayed like that for a few minutes, just holding on to the other as if they wouldn't be able to again. Ed hated making Winry worry, he hated seeing the way she looked at him whenever he came home with a new scar. He knew it was because she cared, but what had he ever done to show he cared about her? All he did was leave her, forcing her to wait for his return. Even if it was something as simple as an automail convention, he'd do it for her, she deserved that much. He put his research beneath her, which was something he felt he hadn't done for years. He had to make up for lost time, after all, and he would never get that done by focusing on his own selfish goals.

Winry pulled away and looked at the scar again, lightly trailing her fingers down it. "So how _did_ this happen?"

"Remember when we were separated in Briggs? I sort of got into a fight with Kimblee during that…" He winced, remembering how easily he had failed. "It was my fault. I didn't go for a strong enough attack. I underestimated him and … I was too merciful. The mine exploded and one of the metal beams went straight through me," he rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed for having to explain it all. It was pretty pathetic of him, getting injured badly enough that he couldn't fight for months. Mustang had done all the work for him and Al got attacked; he would never not be guilty for that.

"You know, I always liked that about you," she said, eyes meeting his own.

"What?"

"You never let your job turn you into someone you're not. I've seen Colonel Mustang and Lieutenant Hawkeye, I know what it looks like to be a killer. You've never had that look, you've always done what was right for Al without hurting anyone else. It takes a lot to not break like that."

Ed stared down at her in shock. He hadn't expected a response like that. How was it that she always saw the good in everyone, even when they didn't deserve it?

"Huh. I never thought of it that way," his mouth raised into a smile, and she lightly punched him in the chest.

"Cause you're a dummy, that's why," she laughed, still not moving away from him. She was still in her wet clothes, and her hair dripped small droplets onto his skin. Ed was taken aback once again by how stunning she looked.

He yanked her forward and she gave a little "oh," pressing her hands against his chest to steady herself. Ed didn't quite know what he was doing, just that he wanted _more_ of her, and fast. They were so close now he could feel her breath, and he slowly leaned in closer to her face, to those lips.

"We're home!" Al swung the door open and they jumped apart as quickly as they came together. Ed could feel his cheeks heating up, and he avoided looking in Al's direction.

"Oh. You two are. Okay." Al closed the door quickly and Ed could hear him running downstairs. _Great timing, Ed. Just great._

Winry began to chuckle and soon was overtaken by laugher, clutching her stomach as Ed's blush worsened.

"Hey!"

"Sorry it's just," she paused to laugh again, wiping tears from her eyes. "You guys make the most hilarious faces!"

Ed groaned and put on the shirt he had grabbed for himself, waiting for her giggles to subside.

"You know, we'll be completely _alone_ at that convention. No Al, no Granny. Just a single hotel room, too."

Ed grinned at her playful demeanor. "I'll go pack."


End file.
